Flash flooding swept through Southern and Eastern Spain leaving more than 200 people dead and wreaking havoc on homes, shops and roadways. European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said that it was another harrowing reminder of Europe’s lack of preparedness for global warming.

On Tuesday, torrential rain and flash flooding inundated towns and severed road and rail links, in the worst case of European flooding since 2021. Spain’s state weather agency AEMET also said that the storm was the most intense to hit the region since the 1980s, with the town of Chiva having almost a year’s worth of rainfall in eight hours.

The flooding swept away bridges, cars and streetlight, with thousands having no access to water or reliable food. On Friday the death toll rose to 205 and is expected to keep rising. The number of missing people remaining unknown.

Politico reported that the intensity of the rainfall, showed the country’s unpreparedness for the deadly flooding. Valencia’s regional government responsible for coordinating emergency services, reported sending a text message warning residents, 8 hours before the floods were reported and 10 hours after AEMET issued their alert.

The claims of climate unpreparedness comes just as Finland’s former president reported that the EU should spend 20% of its common budget on security and crisis preparedness in the wake of increased risk from geopolitical tensions and climate change.

In Irish news:

• Addressing the UN biodiversity conference of the parties (COP16), Minister for Nature and Heritage Malcolm Noonan said that Ireland is scaling up nature restoration to protect its vulnerable ecosystems.
• Green Party leader, Roderic O’Gorman, claims that conflict over climate policies has been “constant” within the coalition government and noted that without the Greens there wouldn’t be a strong focus on climate targets.
• The Lancet Countdown Report 2024 published this week states that children born in Ireland today, and their peers around the world, face malnutrition, a shorter life expectancy and further health hazards caused by climate change.

In other world news:

• Bloomberg reports that environmentalists, government officials and former diplomats are discussing methods to “Trump-proof” global cooperation on climate change.
• At UN COP16, Columbia launched a coalition with 20 other countries, including Mexico and Sweden, to make “peace with nature” amid the stark warnings on the future of biodiversity and humanity.
• The Asian Development Bank warns that the Asia-Pacific needs to increase funding up to12-fold for climate change adaptation in preparation for the dangers of global warming.